Car Tech

The battle of lightweight materials is becoming one of many players. Companies like Mazda are striving to cut down weight with clever use of high-strength steels. Lotus has always gone the way of plastic composite bodies. Even magnesium has been suggested for reducing weight. Ferrari and McLaren...

Not to be out-done by the recent Gran Turismo 5 downloadable content packs, Turn 10 has announced the November Speed Pack. In the pack, out now, your $7 or 560 Microsoft points will gain you access to ten brand new cars, from undisputed classics like the 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, through legendary...

We've speculated before that if technology giant Apple were to build a car, then licencing Gordon Murray's aptly-named iStream process would be a good place to start, with no prior experience creating cars. We could never see Apple releasing a car as ungainly as the T.25 or electric T.27 though...

As long as your car starts, stops and does so without going wrong too frequently, most people aren't really bothered how it all came together. Even so, it's a facinating process to observe and there's now a video showing how much effort actually goes into making the new BMW 1-Series compact, from...

After a hard day at the office, sometimes you just want to jump into your car, switch everything to automatic and waft home using as little effort as possible. Cruise control is a godsend in these scenarios, taking some of the stress out of highway driving. We aren't sure it'd be quite so stress...

App writer Cellurl has created an app that interfaces with your car to act as a cruise control, and we're not sure that's an entirely good idea.

I just spent a weekend driving almost 1,000 miles to compete in an even that involved all of 7.5 minutes of competitive driving--but along the way I found my new phone was capable of doing just about everything I find great in the latest generation of in-car, OEM navigation and infotainment...

As the video for Grand Theft Auto 5 (GTAV) hits the internet, we finally have our first glimpse at what's sure to become one of the most popular - and controversial - games of 2012. Set in Los Santos, a fictional (but eerily accurate) facsimile of Los Angeles, it looks to follow the story of a...

Just minutes ago, Rockstar Games released the first teaser video for Grand Theft Auto 5, and it looks like it's going to be good. Cinematic scenery, chaotic action, and plenty of hot cars to steal, hoon, and crash. The trailer itself is narrated by the main character, explaining why he decided to...

If you've previously taken a few liberties with speed, knowing that a radar trap will catch someone else instead, then you'd better hope your local law enforcement won't be using one of these any time soon... The Cordon photo radar system is the latest in radar speed detection technology, able to...

It's been just under a year since Gran Turismo 5 launched to an expectant audience, and us Gran Turismo fans have had a rough ride of it. Littered with glitches and falling short of many gamers' expectations, developers Polyphony Digital have worked painstakingly over the past year to fix bugs and...

The origins of BMW's blue and white badge are the stuff of urban legend, supposedly derived from the movement of an aircraft propeller through a blue sky. BMW's modern aircraft connection is less romantic but no less impressive. BMW was the first European company to adopt head-up display technology...

Building a "World car" is trickier than you might think. With 7 billion of us now on the planet it's fair to say that a lot of different people have a lot of different requirements from a car. Ford already knows this. Its first attempt at a "World car" was in the 1990s, with the appropriately-named...

Expect more in-vehicle app options as BMW and Mini have opened a new app center in China and invited outside developers to build their own apps.

Yesterday, we saw Toyota's take on twinning smartphone and car to provide an enhanced in-car infotainment experience. By synchronizing your phone and car, you could use your phone's intuitive display in a larger format on a central dashboard screen. BMW and MINI are going about a similar concept in...

Given how well the display and layout of functions found on modern smartphones works, it's surprising that automakers haven't turned to companies like Apple and Android in an effort to improve the user experience. While they work on that, there's a short term solution, thanks to Toyota. We now...

There have been signs over the past year to suggest that head-up-display technology will be the next big thing in driver information systems. A few cars - such as the 2011 Chevrolet Corvette - already use basic systems to ensure the driver keeps his eyes on the road as much as possible, but with...

Motorsport is expensive. If you were to write "expensive" in letters the size of the Hollywood sign, you'd only be scraping the surface of how expensive it actually is. It's bad enough competing at grassroots level but at world championship level the money involved is frankly ludicrous. And though...

If the 2012 Hyundai Veloster wasn't quite funky and youthful enough for you already, then the only thing likely to convince you is cramming it full of the latest games, sounds and technology. That's exactly what RE:MIX Lab has done with three new Velosters, showing them at the opening of their...

The Toyota FT-86 sports coupe is something of an enigma and it hasn't even been launched yet. Known variously as a spiritual successor to the AE86 "Haichi-Roku" Corolla of the 1980s, the "Toyobaru" for its technology shared with an upcoming Subaru coupe and "stop making concepts and build the thing...